Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Lech Lecha Volume 25, No. 3 8 Marcheshvan 5771 October 16, 2010 Sponsored by The Vogel family on the yahrzeit of father and grandfather Aharon Shimon ben Shemayah a"h (Arthur Kalkstein) The Edeson and Stern families, on the anniversary of Jacob S. Edeson's bar mitzvah Today's Learning: Tanach: Shoftim 7-8 Mishnah: Kilayim 4:3-4 Halachah: O.C. 552:11-553:1 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Avodah Zarah 63 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Ma'asrot 2 In this week's parashah, we read that Hashem promised Eretz Yisrael to Avraham's descendants. In Divrei Hayamim (I 16:16-19--recited every day in the Hodu prayer), we read likewise, "That He covenanted with Avraham, and His oath to Yitzchak . . . saying, `To you [singular] I shall give the land of Canaan, the lot of your [plural] heritage.' When you were but few in number, hardly dwelling there." On these verses, R' Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook z"l (1865-1935; Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael) comments: Eretz Yisrael is suitable for the Congregation of Yisrael as a whole, in all generations, forever and ever, yet it is also suitable for every individual Jew in accordance with his nature, his needs, and his essence. This fit is precise, for it was measured out by Hashem, who gave His beloved land to His holy people. This is why the verse begins in the singular--"To you [singular] I shall give the land of Canaan--and ends in the plural--"The lot of your [plural] heritage." Regarding the verse, "When you were but few in number, hardly dwelling there," R' Kook writes: The tie between Yisrael and its holy land is not like the natural tie that connects other nations to their lands. Generally, a connection between a nation and its land develops over time based on events that befall the people there and continued expansion and building as a result of population growth. This is not true in the case of the Divinely-ordained connection between the Congregation of Yisrael and the holiness of the Beloved Land. Even when we were few in number [i.e., Avraham and Sarah alone], there was already a special connection between our nation and its land. (Olat Re'iyah p.203) ******** "The king of Sdom said to Avram, `Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself'." (14:21) Didn't the possessions already belong to Avraham because he had been victorious in battle? Indeed, why did Avraham refuse to take the booty that was rightfully his? R' Reuven Margaliot z"l (Poland and Israel; 1889-1971) explains: The halachah that a victor owns the spoils of war derives from the fact that he risked his life to acquire them. We find similarly that a burglar owns what he has stolen because he risked his life in that a homeowner is halachically permitted to kill a burglar. [Ed. note: When halachah says that a burglar owns what he has stolen, it does not mean that he is not obligated to repay what he stole. However, he owns it in the sense that if he donates it to the Bet Hamikdash or gives it to a woman for marriage, his act is effective.] Avraham, however, did not risk his life to fight the Four Kings; rather, the Gemara (Ta'anit 21a) states that Avraham merely threw soil at the enemy and the particles miraculously turned to spears. Based on this, R' Margaliot writes, we can understand a perplexing story in the Book of Yehoshua. When Bnei Yisrael attacked Yericho, the first city they encountered in Eretz Yisrael, Yehoshua declared that the booty should not be touched. How could he deprive Bnei Yisrael of their hard-won spoils? The answer, explains R' Margaliot, is that since the battle was won through an open miracle, they never earned the booty. (Margaliot Ha'yam 94b, No.20) ******** "Your reward is very great . . . What will You give me?" (15:1- 2) Avraham Avinu seems to asking, "Of what use is a reward if I have no child to leave it to?" Why did Avraham ask this? Perhaps Hashem was promising Avraham great reward in Olam Ha'neshamot / the "World of Souls" (what we commonly refer to imprecisely as "Gan Eden" or "Olam Haba")! R' Moshe ben Nachman z"l (Ramban; 1194-1270) explains: Avraham did not understand Hashem's promise to be referring to reward in Olam Ha'neshamot because the existence of such reward is obvious and requires no promise. Since our souls are not corporeal or physical, it is obvious that they do not die with the body, but rather live forever. For the same reason, Ramban writes, the existence of Olam Ha'neshamot is not mentioned anywhere in the Torah; one can logically deduce that such a world exists. Rather, the Torah focuses on non-obvious, seemingly unnatural consequences, for example, that rain will fall if we serve Hashem or that a person will become wealthy if he gives ma'asrot / tithes properly. (Derashat Torat Hashem Temimah) ******** "He said to [Avraham], `I am Hashem Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit it.' [Avraham] said, `Hashem Elokim! How shall I know that I am to inherit it?' . . . "He said to Avram, `Know with certainty that your offspring shall be aliens in a land not their own, they will serve them, and they will oppress them four hundred years. But also the nation that they shall serve, I shall judge, and afterwards they shall leave with great wealth'." (15:7-8, 13-14) R' Baruch Shalom Ashlag z"l (1907-1991) writes in the name of his father, R' Yehuda Ashlag z"l (1885-1954; the Ba'al Ha'sulam): We see from next week's parashah, in the prelude to the destruction of Sdom, that Avraham did not shy away from debating with Hashem when he felt it was warranted. Here, Avraham does not do so; apparently he accepted Hashem's answer. What then was Avraham's question and what did G-d answer? Another question: We read in Parashat Bo that Hashem hardened Pharoh's heart so that Hashem could demonstrate His wonders. Why exactly was this necessary? R' Ashlag explains: Avraham asked Hashem: You are promising my descendants a gift [Eretz Yisrael] that contains great spiritual lights. What vessels will my descendants use to receive and contain such great lights? Hashem answered him: I will provide the vessels! I will harden Pharoh's heart so that he will oppress your descendants until they recognize that they cannot escape without turning to Me. This will cause them to pray with great intensity and concentration. R' Ashlag continues: The Gemara (Shabbat 104a) teaches: "If one wants to purify himself, he receives Divine assistance." According to the Zohar, this means that he receives a new, more holy soul. Thus, Hashem told Avraham, when your descendants turn to Me, I will imbue them with a soul that will be capable of absorbing the great light of Eretz Yisrael. (Birkat Shalom 5747 p.316) ******** "Know with certainty that your offspring shall be aliens in a land not their own, they will serve them, and they will oppress them four hundred years." (15:13) R' Yehuda Loewe z"l (Maharal of Prague; died 1609) writes: Commentaries have offered a number of explanations for why G-d decreed the exile in Egypt, nearly all of which are premised on some sin committed by Avraham Avinu (though they disagree what the sin was). If so, why did only Avraham's descendants suffer the exile, not Avraham himself? Maharal explains: It was Hashem's plan that the family that suffered the exile would inherit Eretz Yisrael. Since He did not want the descendants of Yishmael and Esav to have a share in the Land, He waited until they had split off from the Patriarchs' family before beginning the exile. In reality, Maharal continues, the question above does not require an answer. The reality is that a person (here, Avraham) may be deserving of punishment, but his merits will protect him. However, if his children have insufficient merits, they will not be protected and will suffer because of their ancestor's sin, provided that there is a reason for the children to suffer. Here, the reason for their suffering was to eradicate from Avraham's descendants the minute vestige of lack of emunah / faith that was reflected in Avraham's question, "How shall I know that I am to inherit it?" (Gevurot Hashem ch.9) ******** How to Spell "Yerushalayim" "Malchizedek, king of Shalem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God, the Most High." (14:18) R' Yaakov Yerucham Wreschner shlita notes that "Yerushalayim" appears in Tanach with a second "yud" ("yud-reish-vav-shin-lamed-yud-mem") only five times, while it appears approximately 600 times without that "yud" ("yud-reish-vav-shin-lamed-mem"). One reason is that before the city was called "Yerushalayim," it was called "Shalem" ("shin-lamed-mem")--i.e., the city mentioned in our verse--with no "yud." Later, Avraham named the place (Bereishit 22:14), "Har Hashem Yir'eh," after which the two names were combined to make "Yerushalayim." R' Wreschner continues: Another reason for the shorter spelling may be to indicate that Yerushalayim remains incomplete. Specifically, the letter "yud" represents the Shechinah / Divine Presence, which is not to be found openly in Yerushalayim at present. (The "yud" at the beginning of the name alludes to the fact that the Divine Presence is always present, at least at the Kotel.) The reason that this letter represents the Shechinah, R' Wreschner explains, is that it uses the least ink of any letter; thus, it is the least "physical" of all the letters. Yet another message alluded to by the missing "yud," R' Wreschner writes, is in its gematria--ten. This hints at the ten levels of holiness found in Eretz Yisrael, as described in Tractate Keilim (ch.1). The pinnacle of these ten levels was the Holy of Holies in Yerushalayim, but today, they are mostly absent. (R' Wreschner concludes: Therefore, as happy as we are to possess Yerushalayim and, nominally, control the Temple Mount, we must never lose sight of what we don't have--the Bet Hamikdash, the Kohen Gadol entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, and the open manifestation of the Divine Presence.) (Seder Yaakov pp.6-7)